selvaraja somiah’s twisted thoughts

Me, just an ordinary Penangite who spent a good part of my learning life in North Borneo and Kathmandu. I’m a geologist turned freelance writer who’s joining the blog sphere now. What I post are my general views, my ramblings, and opinions of my thoughts of what is happening in my country. You are welcome to write your comments, but seditious and racial remarks will be deleted. I am no big writer but will try my best to provide my thoughts with my simple English. I welcome suggestions and opinions on my blog so that it can be improved further for the benefit of all.

I cannot resist the temptation to reproduce this letter below, because, this is exactly how most of my Sabahan friends feel about this much hyped up movie “OLA BOLA”.

Here goes….

I was at the Stadium Merdeka on 6, 1980 when James Wong scored the winning goal against South Korea. With this victory, we qualified for the Moscow Olympics.

I therefore made it a point to go and see the hyped movie Ola Bola, a movie based on the true story of the victorious team and to relive that magical moment when two fellow Sabahans created and scored the winning goal for Malaysia.

I came out of the cinema hall feeling rather despondent. This was a true story that was altered and twisted for reasons best known to Director Chiu Keng Guan and his scriptwriters.

Ever since I was young, it was always drummed into my head that we must render onto Caesar what is Caesar’s.

So when Chiu Keng Guan decided to credit the winning goal to Khalid Ali in his movie and not to James Wong, that was a total disappointment.

That was a white lie and went against what I was thought to believe about giving credit when it is due.

Chiu has “dismissed complaints about factual inaccuracies by pointing out that the film is just inspired by true events”, what rubbish!

Did I read that correctly? True events? Was it not James Wong that scored the winning goal?

Was the score not 2-1 in favour of Malaysia and not 3-2? If the story line is based on “true events” how could anyone ignore the truth?

To give credit where it is due, the film was well executed. The cinematography was great. The story-line of comradeship and determination was excellent and this is 1Malaysia at its best.

There were Chinese, Indians, Sikh, Malays, West Malaysians and East Malaysians all coming together as one to bring glory to the Nation.

The movie showed us what true grit and determination can achieve.

But to change what was the one magical moment that we are all know belongs to James Wong is totally unacceptable by any standard.

Either the film’s Director deliberately changed the facts upon instruction to fit a political master race agenda in order to enjoy Finas funding or he and his scriptwriter did not do enough research on that game and the history behind it. Why they did that is best left to the imagination.

There is a lot of negative perception about this including if there was a hidden agenda behind changing the actual goal scorer from James to Ali. This is a question best left to Director Chiu and his scriptwriter to answer.

For me personally and the thousands of football fans who were there in Stadium Merdeka you will NEVER, ever convince us that it was not James Wong who scored the winning goal for Malaysia.

You can try taking glory away from James but you will never take away what is etched in my memory – that one magical moment in time when two SABAHANS combined together to produce what was possibly the highest achievement of the Malaysian football team of the 80s.

I hope everybody had a wonderful weekend. It is day 13 of the Kickstarter campaign and with just three weeks to go we are slowly but surely crawling our way to our end goal. We could never have gotten this far without the pledges and the humbling support of all you out there so, sincerely on behalf of the team, Thank you so very, very much!

Over the weekend, the production had been working away at getting a video update ready as promised and we have indeed delivered. The video is a clip from the documentary and features a short introduction by cinematographer/editor/co-director Matthew Fillmore. I hope you will like what you see and continue supporting our project.

As a side-note, for all Malaysians who have come across this Kickstarter project and would like to contribute but have questions regarding donations, please do not hesitate to contact us via our production e-mail diambangfilm@gmail.com

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be a member of an oppressed minority. I am neither a Bumiputra nor an Orang Asal. I am not a woman. I don’t even come from an estate background; Indians from there are often discriminated against by the system including their own kind, the so-called elites. The closest I felt like a minority was when I worked in a semi-government body after uni, and felt the occasional tinge of discrimination against Indians. Still, that was minor.

In a sense, I can never fully understand the feelings a minority person goes through. Hence, any attempt to give advice to the minorities of Malaysia is audacious. None of us are completely qualified to comment on their situation, specially me.

However, a better Malaysia would require better leaders, something we have to work together for. We have to learn to vote better. We haven’t been doing so, and that is why we often find some of the most dishonest people in society right at the top. Perhaps we have a bad system, or we don’t know how to vote. Most likely, the candidates managed to fool us.

One way some politicians fool us is by playing vote-bank politics. They understand the emotion of oppression felt by the minority, claim to be their saviors and ask for their vote in return. The minority votes for the candidate or party in the hope that they will come to power and protect them. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen. What happens is that the wrong guy is chosen for the job, someone who is neither competent nor honest. He is chosen because he is a symbol of hope for the minority.

However, decades pass and the minority remains as oppressed as ever. Of all the minorities lured into such deceptive vote-bank schemes, Indians are wooed the most because their community is one of the largest in terms of actual numbers. They are often believed to vote en-bloc. Also, as a community, they face significant oppression. Appeal to that injustice, and one can bring them all together, and hopefully, get a nice block vote for a politician. Yesterday during the MIC’s 66th annual general meeting Najib Tun Razak said Indians were BN’s fixed deposit. Najib said “In the 11th general election [2004], the BN had its fixed deposit in the Indian voters but in the 12th general election, the Indian fixed deposit moved from the BN bank to the opposition bank.” “Maybe our interest rates were not good in 2008 for the Indian fixed deposit votes, but over the last three years, I have raised the interest rates and they are making a comeback to the BN bank.” “The confidence on the BN government is back,” Najib said. See how pathetic and annoying this statement is, its really an insult to all Indians if they look at themselves as FIXED DEPOSIT.

Indians have been had. Yes, they have been fooled time and again by these politicians who promised the world, but kept them oppressed as ever. They may have given RM500 after 50 years, but they kept the whole community poor due to discrimination and racism. And yes, they have fooled the Indians the last fifty years or so. They kept them busy with the Tamil school debates, while they hid the fact that the community was going downhill and suffering due to their discriminative policies. While the Indians form just 7% of the total population, they account for 63% arrested under the Emergency Ordinance for violent crimes and gangsterism.

For when an Indian student doesn’t get a good college after school, and do not get a government job it doesn’t matter if he is Muslim or Hindu or a christian or even Buddhist, it still hurts the same. When police treat Indians worse than animals, the race matter. Indians rank lowest in national elementary-school examinations, about one in every 12 Indian children do not even attend primary school. When 90% of Indians cannot afford a decent university education, it isn’t the community alone who feel the pinch. We all do, and it is time to ask our leaders to fix the problems rather than create new, artificial ones.

I want to urge the Indians to keep the heat on politicians. Do not commit your vote or loyalty to any political party forever. Time has shown, they will only take you for granted. One should keep their vote floating, and in the end vote for the better (or less worse) party. Your vote has much more power if it can change over time.

The above, however, still doesn’t take away the fact that minorities face oppression. Laws should be in place to prevent discrimination, and culturally, Indians will have to become open-minded if they have any dream of seeing Malaysia as a developed nation. We as minority members have to be extra cautious to not hurt feelings of others. Of course, there have been situations where even the majority community has suffered because they were a local minority, for instance. In such cases, the communities should be sensitive to the feelings of others too.

We are at a unique point in Malaysia’s history. A significant part of the population is craving for change. Vote-bank politics and hating each other’s religion should be chastised and branded un-Malaysian. After all, all religions have stood the test of time and are great. It is our nation, yours and mine, that has to be made great now. Are you on board?

ANALYSIS Malaysia Agreement or no Malaysia Agreement, Sarawak or Sabah/Labuan for that matter, cannot step outside the bounds with the Federal Government. Putrajaya belongs as much to the two Malaysian states in Borneo as to Peninsular Malaysia.

At a lower level, the Federal Government presides over the individual sultanates, states and territories in Peninsular Malaysia.

Five on-going issues, some simmering for long, have pitted the Sarawak state government in a head-long clash against the Federal Government. It’s anybody’s guess how Putrajaya will bring the recalcitrant Taib Mahmud regime to heel. Surely, the Joseph Pairin Kitingan administration (1985 – 1994) in Sabah is the mother of all precedents!

Now (drumroll) for the latest of the five issues viz. Native status, followed by immigration, heads of federal depts, NCR land and Taib’s long-promised retirement as Chief Minister.

In the latest move, the Sarawak National Registration Department’s (NRD) willful defiance of an 18 Nov 2009 policy circular, [ref: PM( R)11880/A/072/3 Jld 5] by the Chief Secretary to the Government is likely to inflame passions and further infuriate the Chinese and other non-Native communities in Sarawak against the state government.

Not that Taib cares anyway despite the drubbing he received in the urban and Chinese seats during last year’s state elections.

A Sarawakian non-Native married to a Bidayuh lady has come forward to scream in the local media, anonymously, that the Sarawak NRD does not recognise the Chief Secretary’s circular which rules that children born in Sabah and Sarawak of only one non-Native parent can henceforth be registered “by administration” as Natives. The only reason that this is happening is because recruitments for federal departments in Sarawak, unlike in Sabah, are done through the Sarawak Federal Public Services Commission.
The Sarawak NRD, according to Sarawakian, advised him to get confirmation from the Native Court and the Majlis Adat Istiadat Sarawak (MAIS) on his children’s Native status. To add insult to injury, The Sarawak NRD reiterated that it doesn’t recognise the Chief Secretary’s said circular as valid.

MAIS told him point-blank that it interprets Native strictly as a citizen of Malaysia of any race which is now considered to be indigenous to Sarawak as set out in the Schedule under section 3 of the Interpretation Ordinance (1958 Edition), Chapter 1 of the Laws of Sarawak “and any admixture of the above races with each other”.

Obviously, the Sarawak NRD is wrong in law to ignore the said administrative policy circular from the Chief Secretary to the Government. The said circular has never been successfully challenged in Court and therefore, until such time, stands valid in law.

“Law” is not just Adat, the Constitution and Acts/Enactments/Ordinances but also constitutional conventions, administrative policies and even includes what can be deemed as “politically correct”.

That’s how Momogun (non-Natives) in Sabah can apply for Pasok (Native) status provided they are citizens in the state living among the latter community and habitually speaking Native languages and practising Native culture, customs and traditions.

For example, the Queen of England can refuse to appoint a Prime Minister on the grounds that the unwritten constitution and related aspects makes no reference to a Prime Minister.

In reality, the Queen appoints the Prime Minister anyway by convention. Otherwise, she would be precipitating a constitutional crisis.

Likewise, the Sarawak NRD has no business ignoring the said circular by the Chief Secretary to the Government. Wither 1Sarawak, if not 1Malaysia!

Those unhappy with the said circular, and this by the way does not include the Sarawak NRD, should take up the matter in Court by way of a Judicial Review of the administrative policy.
So, the right thing for the Sarawak NRD to do under the circumstances would be to accept the applications from “Sarawakian” and leave it to others with locus standi to challenge the administrative ruling in Court.

Instead, the Sarawak NRD seems to have created its own mini-administrative ruling to oppose the circular.

The Federal Government is also irked by the state government, under Taib’s directive, routinely barring Malaysian citizens from Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah entering Sarawak.

The Special Provisions for East Malaysia, under the Immigration Act 1967, does not bestow the right to bar citizens from Sabah and Sarawak. The provision is only meant to safeguard local jobs from being taken by Peninsular Malaysians.

Likewise, Taib has been misusing the Immigration to deny long-term work permits to Peninsular Malaysians or Sabahans appointed as heads of Federal Departments in Sarawak. These appointees can only secure three-month work permits at a time instead of one for three years.

Will Prime Minister Mohd Najib Abdul Razak blink when push comes to shove on the difficult patches with the state government and, as it is being predicted by the locals, flee with his tail between the legs when Taib says, “boo!”

The talk in Kuching is that Taib has gone back on his public pledge, made during the state elections in Sarawak last year, to resign as Chief Minister not long after the results come in and certainly well before the 13th General Elections. Instead, Taib woke up the 90-year-old Governor and had himself sworn in as the Chief Minister in the dead of night instead of waiting until the next morning.

Taib, when pressed by Najib on the resignation issue, is reported to have retorted in a challenge: “Let’s see who will retire first, whether me or you!”

The Federal Government is also extremely unhappy that the Sarawak state government has virtually ignored several NCR land cases which went against it in Court. Putrajaya released several million ringgit to demarcate Native lands in Sarawak but Taib, being displeased with the funding, has been dragging his foot on the issue. In the lands reluctantly demarcated so far by the state government, only the area immediately surrounding a longhouse is being considered NCR land while communal land further away is being treated as state land.

Najib seems ever mindful that Taib, with at least 25 parliamentary seats behind him, can dictate to him at least for the moment given his stand-off in Peninsular Malaysia with the national opposition alliance Pakatan Rakyat.

It goes without saying that had Taib been a non-Muslim, Najib would have gone after him hammer and tongs as what former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad did to Pairin.

It is great to hear that our Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has finally agreed to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to investigate problems related to illegal immigrants in Sabah. Credit must be given to Chief Minister Musa Aman for getting all the UMNO Divisional Heads in Sabah and the state liaison committee’s endorsement to declare their support for the RCI. In fact, Musa Aman was facing strong objections from some elements within UMNO Sabah who were not in favour of the RCI but he nevertheless managed to pull it through. Besides, the call to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to look into claims that foreigners obtained Malaysian citizenship illegally became louder only after Musa Aman managed to get the endorsement from all the UMNO Divisional Heads, in fact wannabe Chief Minister Shafie Apdal was never in favour, but of course, now after Najib’s announcement he is singing a different tune saying “we don’t want foreigners to come to Sabah without documents because at the end of the day, it would create social problems like what is happening here in Semporna – the piracy case and other incidents, which we surely don’t want“. Make me laugh this Shafie, it took him 4 months to come out with this statement, maybe he was too bogged down with his Zahida Rafik actress mistress alleged sex scandal.

Sabah’s legalised immigrant population is now in excess of 1.2 million and reports of ‘free MyKads’ being dished out overt and covertly in Sandakan, Tawau, Lahad Datu and Semporna are worrying everyone here in Sabah, the fear of ‘reverse takeover’ of the state by the Filipino immigrants in view of Manila’s claim on Sabah is not unfounded, it just seems to be getting worse.

The Federal Government cannot be faulted for issuing citizenship through the normal process to foreigners in Sabah.

However, it can be faulted if it wants such people to be treated as Sabahans. The correct procedure would be for the Federal Government to issue citizenships to permanent residents in Sabah only upon recommendation by the Sabah state government. The Federal Government cannot take the initiative on this unless it wants to treat such foreigners as Peninsular Malaysians in which case the Sabah PR status of those affected would have to be revoked and they will be subject to the normal visa and work permit regulations to safeguard local jobs.

re the twice-born, the smoking gun is that such people would have got MyKads without establishing the status of their parent or parents.

The above two points will make the whole country, shiver, shake and shit in their pants.

And for this Royal Commission of Inquiry, and while you’re at it…here is more suggestions to the table:

AMNESTY

Najib’s Government should offer a general amnesty before the RCI begins to all those who illegally and fraudulently obtained Malaysian personal documents in Sabah and registered with the Election Commission and are willing to come forward and remove their names from the electoral rolls and surrender their documents in return for Special Passes — valid for six months at a time and renewable indefinitely for a maximum of 18 months during which time they must return to their home countries and re-enter, if they wish, but legally after a blacklisting period of five years. Those who can’t return for any reason should be on Special Passes for Life, their children should only be entitled to temporary residence permits for life, their grandchildren should only be enititled to permanent residence for life, their great grandchildren should be eligible to apply for naturalisation in Peninsular Malaysia.

The general amnesty should be extended to those who issued such documents and voluntarily come forward. Those who issued such documents should voluntarily surrender their citizenship status in return for permanent residence status for life. Their “crime” should affect the status of their children and grandchildren as the case may be.

A fine of RM 500 should be imposed on foreigners and RM 5,000 on Malaysians and the money should go to the Sabah state government.

The precedent for the general amnesty, party, should be a similar offer in Peninsular Malaysia in 1965. A fine of RM 300 each was imposed.

INTERNATIONAL SCRUTINY

International observers and the United Nations should be invited to the RCI

TIME LIMIT

The work of the RCI should only be finished when it is finished. No time limit should be imposed on the RCI to finish its work but in any case, it should not take more than three years.
The RCI should hold at least 150 whole day long meetings.

Once the RCI finishes its work, it should complete and submit its final report within two years and its first report within six months.

All those who made public statements for and against the illegals should be subpoened.

SUBPOENA

All those held under the ISA in connection with the illegals should be subpoened. This includes “Sultan of Sulu” Akjan and Hassnar Ebrahim.

Harris Salleh & Mahathir Mohammad should not be allowed to distract, disrupt the RCI & mislead with their red herring statements.

Harris’ Yayasan Islam Sabah should be subpoened.

Harris should be asked to explain his statement in Court on Salman Majid and other statements.

Karpal Singh, who defended Salman Majid, should be subpoened for his statement on citizenship with reference to his Client.

Salman Majid should be subpoened.

Mahathir and Anwar Ibrahim should be asked to explain Projek IC or Projek M.

Parti Bersatu Sabah, Pairin and Raden Malleh should be asked to explain a study they conducted on the illegals & subsequently detailed in Parliament.

Bernard Dompok, who headed a Cabinet Committee on IC, should be subpoened.

Upko and Wilfred Bumburing should be supoened for a Memorandum they submitted on the illegals to the Home Ministry. Home Minister Hishammudin should be asked to explain his response to the Memorandum.

The PSC headed by Maximus Ongkili should be subpoened.

Suhakam should be subpoened.

Tan Sri Simon Sipaun should be subpoened on his work with Suhakam and his statement that life in Sabah was better before Malaysia.

Writer M. D. Mutalib should be subpoened for his books on the illegals and his public statements on “twice borns” with reference to late registration of birth.

The American Pakistani or Indian Sajid who did a PhD study on the illegals should be subpoened.

DOCUMENTATION

RCI should first accept documents & documentation & sift through documentation. This includes all statements in the media including the visual media. The police should provide copies of all police reports on illegals.

The AG’s Chambers should provide documentation on all cases brought to Court & settled on illegals.

CROSS EXAMINATION

Cross-examination should be allowed. This is the best way to establish the truth.

CERTIFICATE

A certificate of appreciation should be given to those who are not wrong doers and volunteer to testify before the RCI.

WITNESS

Witness protection should be provided.

PERJURY

The RCI should take serious note of any perjury

MAIN WORK

The main work of the RCI should be to focus on late registration birth certificates obtained by Statutory Declaration, the “Malay” category in the Sabah statistics on demography, the number of people which the Philippines & Indonesian & other governments refused to take back on the grounds of statelessness, & the number of stateless people & temporary residents in Sabah, & the NRD, Immigration Dept, police, Court & EC procedures to deal with illegals & foreigners & political interference.

CHECK LIST

All late registration birth certificates should be withdrawn if they can’t pass a check list and the holders of the related Statutory Declaration charged with perjury.

This includes the “Malay” category.

The names of those whose birth certificates are withdrawn should be deleted from the electoral rolls.

COMMENTIt appears that the current Najib Administration has forgotten the bitter lessons learnt during Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s long innings in office when he, the frightened little man he was by default in office, openly and shamelessly rooted for extreme coercion as his preferred modus operandi.

It’s not so much that Prime Minister Mohd Najib Abdul Razak is calling the shots in the current stand-off with the Bar Council of Malaya on the proposed Law Academy in the wake of Bersih 3.0.

De facto Law Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz, egged on by Mahathir, appears to be single-handedly taking on the legal profession in the country. He must have a death-wish like Mahathir.

Why doesn’t the Election Commission (EC) address, in a rational, detached and professional manner, the issues raised by Bersih 3.0?

Instead, the Government is indulging in the politics of distraction and disruption to camouflage the numerous complaints against the EC, the Electoral Rolls and the electoral process. The EC cowers meanwhile behind the Government which appears determined not to allow a free and fair election lest it end up, after 55 years, in the dustbin of history. Fifty-five is a good time to retire.

To digress a little, Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur will turn into yet another Tahrir Square with reminiscence of the Arab Spring if the ruling Umno wins the 13th General Election with anything more than a simple majority. The fault will lie squarely on the EC and Umno.

The Umno Government can only underestimate the determination of the Opposition for free and fair elections at its own peril.

Now, we are saddled with the Umno’s politics of distraction and disruption again a la Mahathir in the wake of ex-Bar Council Chief Ambiga Sreenivasan assuming the mantle at Bersih. The Government is under no illusions that the Opposition, which has an eye on the 67 parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia where Indians decide, is behind Bersih. It sees the Bar Council as having a hand in Bersih 3.0 via Ambiga. Hence, moves for a so-called Law Academy to “rein in the Bar Council” and at the same time intimidate Indian voters into supporting the Government once again.

Mahathir tried, repeatedly, to do a number on practising lawyers in the country after the sacking of the Lord President. Eventually, he had to retreat with his tail between his legs when jurists worldwide began scrutinizing him and he began to more than feel the heat.

History is set to repeat itself under the guise of the proposed Law Academy and for the aforesaid reasons.

Mahathir appears to belabour under the illusion, or perhaps deliberately, that politics is only for politicians and politicians.

Hence, he castigates the Bar Council as “having degenerated into a political party with no one to look after the profession”.

Politics cannot be divorced from law.

The Constitution is more politics than law and its dry bones, masquerading as law, are clothed by constitutional conventions and administrative law, both of which have nothing to do with law but is all about politics. It’s the politicization of issues, like the need for electoral reform, which eventually finds its way into constitutional conventions and administrative law.

So, the Bar Council stands on firm ground on the legal profession and should not be seen as behaving like a political party anymore than the NGOs which flog a single issue where the politicians have failed.

Nazri, in a contradiction in terms vis-à-vis Mahathir, claims that the Government-mooted Law Academy will look after the interests — whatever they are — of law graduates who are not in professional practice. It’s clear that the Government wants to use the Law Academy for political purposes and mainly to clobber the Bar Council with it.

This is the second such attempt by the Government.

The first was through an association for secular Muslim lawyers. This divide-and-rule tactic has not worked so far because very few Muslim lawyers abandoned the Bar Council to join the new association. Muslim lawyers have no reason to be separate from the Bar Council just as members of other faiths.

Nazri should know that Mahathir doesn’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to the legal profession, given his tainted record on the Judiciary, and should not continue to ventilate his ignorance in public like his political master.

The Bar Council has neither forgotten, nor forgiven him, for single-handedly eroding the Doctrine of Separation of Powers and reducing the Judiciary to yet another Government Department firmly under the thumb of the executive. This was after Parliament had been reduced to a rubber stamp and the King placed in imminent danger of losing his head by way of a so-called Special Court. There’s no precedent for this legal Sword of Damocles anywhere in the world.

If the King has to step down, for any number of reasons, he steps down but he can only be persuaded by the Council of Rulers to do so and not the Government. He doesn’t get dragged to Court like a commoner. But this was what Mahathir, in his supreme ignorance, bequeathed the nation.

Whatever happened to a concept of Crown Privilege? The King can do no wrong.

Now, Nazri and Mahathir are leading those egging any number of publicity-seekers to set up the Law Academy. No doubt there will be some takers, none from the Bar Council, just as in the case of the Muslim Lawyers Association. The Federal Government reportedly plans to fund the Law Academy with an initial launching grant of RM 15 million.

If non-practising lawyers want to band together for some reason, they can always do so, as provided for by Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.

However, they should not band themselves together as a Law Academy. They are not qualified to do so since the great majority is neither in teaching nor are they in professional practice. No doubt they would have forgotten whatever law they learnt in their quest for a paper qualification. Ten out ten they would fail a simple law test.

A Law Academy is an institution of higher learning for the teaching and development of the law via academia, with emphasis on jurisprudence, and research on law, government and politics. Membership of the Academy is honorary.

The right parties to set up a Law Academy would be the Bar Council of Malaya, the Sabah Law Association and the Sarawak Advocates Association together with the law faculties at local universities and those overseas in Commonwealth countries.

The Federal Government has no business whatsoever pushing for a Law Academy or whatever with half-baked characters just to politicize the legal profession for its own ulterior motives.

Open Letter to Hindraf Makkal Sakthi

Borneo-based and led national 3rd Force in Parliament

Dear Waytha and Uthaya,

Johore may be set for interesting times as it faces an uncertain future as an Umno bastion.

Muhiyiddin is reportedly trying to do a number on Najib here by planning to get rid of Ghani in a bid to prepare for the post-13th General Election period. He must think that Johore’s and Mahathir’s support alone are sufficient to help him mount a successful challenge against Najib for the Umno presidency.

The Sultan should continue to remain above politics and not agree to bring in, as rumoured, Khalid Nordin.The MB should be free of palace control.

The national Opposition alliance meanwhile is spreading any number of rumours on its political foes.

Among these rumours: infighting in Umno (also in BN over seats); MIC will be alloted less parliamentary seats and state seats than it won the last time lest the Opposition wins even more seats from the party — MIC is set to lose Segamat, Tapah and Hulu Selangor — and the party to be compensated by other non-elected positions in government; the companies in the submarine case in France will be found guilty of giving out bribes for the deal. Mahathir, Mukhriz and Muhyiddin — the 3Ms — will be jumping up and down with joy as they will finally have an opportunity to oust Najib before the GE; Ananda Krishnan’s money meant for the GE has been frozen by India for money laundering (That does not seem to have prevented Astro from giving out RM 500 million to RTM a few days ago to improve services.); Syed Mokhtar’s money alone is not enough to finance the GE; Najib has either finished his RM 500 million from the submarine deal or is not willing to part with anymore money for politics just in case he loses the GE; Mahathir is not willing to part with any money for the GE; Daim Zainuddin is willing to finance individuals, not parties, provided they can be useful to him in some way.(How is he going to finance anyone without knowing who will be selected as candidates?) Taib’s money meant for the GE was frozen in Switzerland after the Bruno Manser Foundation tipped off authorities there; Umno branches have squandered the money given to them for the GE etc

In retaliation, one word from Umno making the rounds is that Azmin Ali is trying to get rid of Nurul Izzah Anwar from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and politics “because he fears that she’s eyeing his deputy presidency which she can win if push comes to shove”. Here, it seems that Anwar is keeping mum because Azmin has a “hold” on him. So, it seems that fugitive blogger-cum-fairy-tale writer Raja Petra Kamarudin — “I will eat my beret if I am caught lying” — is trying to unilaterally mount some sort of heroic one-man campaign for Nurul against Azmin. (Petra seems to be more disappointed that the blogs did not claim that he’s having an affair with Nurul and is instead giving that credit to that “ugly bugger” Tian Chua “when he — Petra — is more handsome”. He forgot to mention old and senile in describing himself.)

If politics in the country is in the shithouse, it’s a different picture on the economy.

Malaysia in fact will do very well but always in the long-run as it keeps bouncing back and not just on paper. This would be despite the politics and politicians because it’s tied to China and increasingly to India and it’s not just on the economy either but also on security which is the most important factor in creating and maintaining wealth..

We are no longer putting all our eggs in one basket or banking on the west and Japan.

However, we have yet to give the Indian community a place in the sun.

This factor, more than anything else is annoying India and the diaspora in more ways than one and thereby undermining our national security, and by extension, our economy and future.

By short-changing the Indian community for no rhyme or reason, we are literally sabotaging the economy in an act of high treason.The deprivation of the Indian community is Malaysia’s loss as it stifles potential and doesn’t do anything to unleash the creative genius of the victimised. The Indian community can produce more hotshots like Tony Fernandes and Ananda Krishnan if the Umno government stops squatting on them. All the country needs is another two or three people like Tony Fernandes and Ananda Krishnan to propell it into among the best in the world in other fields.

The Indian community nevertheless has turned away from PKR — over Anwar consistently denying the community’s role in the political tsunami of 2008 and labelling community activists as racists — but is unlikely to return to the BN. It remains with Dap and Pas because it probably sees them as the lesser of the two evils, the other being PKR/Umno.

So, Najib will hesitate in calling for the GE as long as he can hesitate for any number of other reasons as well but not, as stated before, the economy. So, the economy is not a factor at all in deciding when to call the GE. Najib’s alphabet soup recipes on the economy — GTP, ETP, PTP, NEM, NKEA, NKRA, NEAC, EPP, KPI etc — are just so much cosmetics, gimmicks and hype, if not pure, unadulterated BS.

Najib’s fear of losing the GE is there and real. He has been reported as saying that the next GE date is a secret like the Coca Cola recipe. Coke has kept its recipe secret for well over a century and will never reveal it. Is Najib trying to say that he will never reveal the GE date because it will never be held under him?

He has done nothing to bring Taib in Sarawak under control or reach out to Jeffrey Kitingan in Sabah by at least giving him a hearing on Malaysia.

Jeffrey is “equally dangerous” as Taib, if not more. He’s quite capable of pulling out the proverbial rabbit from the hat in the quest for the tataba, the magical wand of power which Umno wrested from his elder brother Joseph Pairin Kitingan in 1994. The brothers are working together — “blood is thicker than water” — across the political divide.

Jeffrey, under his Plan Z, would go for all 60 state seats in Sabah and 26 parliamentary seats including Labuan. He expects the multipilicity of issues to favour his party even if the opposition in the state fails to agree to take on the ruling BN one-to-one.

Star is still work in progress in Sarawak under the United Borneo Alliance.

Regarding the national debt, the national Opposition alliance would of course continue to politicise the situation but the fact is that it’s not at all even a bit scary although our money is at present fleeing to Singapore on its way elsewhere.

If the Malaysian ringgit is at present falling against the Singapore dollar for example, blame it on the continuing national Opposition alliance’s rhetoric on the national debt.This is economic sabotage tantamount to sedition and treason. The national opposition alliance is meanwhile claiming that it’s Umno money that is fleeing to Singapore and weakening the ringgit against the Singapore dollar.

Perhaps that’s why Anwar Ibrahim and Azmin Ali have been hauled to Court for their allegedly “wink wink” participation in Bersih 3.0. If they can’t be clobbered for their “sins” elsewhere, the modus operandi seems to be to throw anything and everything at them …failing to pay parking tickets, glaring at Mahathir on TV etc etc

The issue is not the national debt level per se but our ability and willingness to pay which is not in question right now but may definitely be so, as in Greece, if the national Opposition alliance is not careful with its mouth if and when it comes to power. We saw what happened in Greece. The Greek problem is economics only in the immediate and long run but more about politics in the short-run.

The national Opposition alliance in Malaysia, like in Greece, is likely to politicise the national debt level in order to knock Umno/BN (by then in Opposition if crossovers take place) in a bid to prevent it clawing its way back to power.

Values — property, shares, currency — will all definitely fall if a PR Federal Government is loose-mouthed in the short and immediate-run.

This is because we have at present a disloyal national Opposition, one which doesn’t know where party politics ends and good government begins.

We need a loyal national Opposition i.e. one loyal to the country.

In any case, some people with money to spare for rock-bottom bargains will be set to make a killing when values pick up — as they will — in the long-run. Perhaps Pakatan Rakyat (PR) can then collect 20 per cent royalty on such capital gains and windfalls.

Public and investor confidence in the short-run would nose-dive under a loose-mouthed PR Government, the foreign lenders would get jittery and recall their loans and given “the run on the bank situation”, Malaysia would have to run to the IMF for aid but not necessarily under a “tail between the legs” Federal Government. It must also be remembered that the systemic problems in the economy were not resolved by avoiding the IMF in 1997/98.

Fortunately, most of the government debt is domestic.

But what about the local lending institutions invested in Government securities which by then may be PR’s responsibility?

What the IMF would do, as with the other countries, is to take over Malaysia’s foreign debts to prevent a contagion effect on the lender economies.

Then, Malaysia would owe the IMF — in fact the Treasuries of the foreign countries/companies which lent Malaysia the money and not the IMF itself — and would be subject to strict supervision until the loans are repaid. It means no AliBabaism and Umnoputeraism (or rather PRism) and Government contracts and procurements would have to be open to all.

If the national Opposition alliance doesn’t politicise the national debt when in power, there would be no problems. The economy will not be affected then by the fall of Umno/BN from power.

Another, and more worrying issue is that the national debt is presently being incurred not in the genuine interest of the people and the nation but because the ruling elite are busy plundering the Public Treasury for themselves, albeit indirectly, while “if necessary enticing the Sultans in the process for political reasons”.

There’s a sort of “make hay while the sun shines” syndrome at work.

PR is waiting to emulate Umno/BN on this in Putrajaya but no doubt after the IMF, if invited, has left the country. They are all waiting to become super rich overnight at the expense of us all. Blame it all on the pervasive culture of corruption of the process and system.

So, the more things appear to change, the more they will appear to remain the same if we have a two-party system in Parliament.

It’s not enough to have regime change.

There must be system change.

That’s why we need a Borneo-based national alliance to lead a 3rd Force in Parliament to steer evenly between PR and BN, both the latter Peninsular Malaysia-based alliances/coalitions. Besides, the 3rd Force will be the best guarantee for Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia. This can be done by the 3rd Force getting the Federal Government to comply with the four constitutional documents and/or conventions on the membership, partnership and participation of these two states in the Malaysian Federation i.e. the 1963 Malaysia Agreement; the 20/18 Points; the Inter Governmental Committee Report; and the Cobbold Commission Report. Non-compliance renders the partnership of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia inoperable to the extent of the non-compliance.

This is where Hindraf comes into the picture as a crucial element in the 3rd Force and to focus on the 67 parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia where the Indians decide.

There are also other 3rd Force elements in these 67 seats i.e. the Orang Asli, the Christians, other minorities and the fence-sitters who can help to make a difference for the better.

However, Hindraf needs to work together with Dap and Pas, if not PKR, on the 67 seats. It can contest under a Peninsular Malaysian chapter of the State Reform Party (Star), as earlier envisaged, to truly ensure the emergence of the 3rd Force in Parliament. Waytha’s intended return from political asylum by Nov 25 this year for the Hindraf National Convention at the Chinese Assembly Hall in Kuala Lumpur should provide a kickstart.

The national Opposition alliance should give way to the 3rd Force not only in Peninsular Malaysia but also Sabah and Sarawak or risk Umno/BN winning the GE by default.

If the national Opposition alliance refuses to play ball, hopefully the issues will carry the day for the emergence of the 3rd Force. The longer the GE is delayed, the greater the prospects for the emergence of a more respectable 3rd Force in terms of numbers.

Come elections Indians are the most sought after people. This time too political parties are queuing outside the houses of worship, houses of religious leaders, organizations, to woo the Indians ahead of the 13th General Elections which might be called anytime now.

Be it Barisan National or Pakatan Rakyat, they all are throwing bait to Indians.

Now even Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is doing the same. At the Taipusam festival in Batu Caves a few days ago Najib urged Indian Malaysians to ‘trust’ him to improve their lives. Najib emphasized on “Nambekei” (Tamil for trust) probably that’s the only Tamil word he knows but nevermind, but he also said Barisan Nasional government will fulfil all its promises to the Indian community and guaranteed that every promise will be delivered.

Indian opportunities
The Barisan National and Pakatan Rakyat are talking about giving more oppotunities to Indians if voted to power. Each party is trying its best to portray itself as Indian well-wisher. Such tall promises are not being made for the first time. For the last more than 50 years political parties have treated Indians merely as vote-bank to be used during elections and then discarded.

The conditions of Indians have been deteriorating fast. Rate of illiteracy is high. Their youth continue to struggle to get decent jobs in the fast-changing corporate Malaysia. Women education is abysmal. Overall their condition is worse than all the other races in Malaysia put together. To get over the situation, the community approaches ruling parties with begging bowl to give them opportunities as if it would bring an end to their woes.

Who is to be blamed?
Who is to be blamed for their backwardness: Government or the community? It is not only political parties that have exploited them, even their representatives mainly MIC and religious organizations have taken them for a ride. For a few bucks and a coveted post, they bargain with political parties, leaving the community in the lurch. .

The situation is chaotic with some religious organizations and politicians allying with parties that can help them ride up the ladder and allow them to bring in money just to build and to beautify and improve the facilities at Batu Caves so that it can become a popular tourist destination or to get RM4 million project for a new building for SRJK Batu Caves or organize seminars and symposium targeting the elite class. Indian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as Mynadi and the Sri Murugan Centre are good examples and exceptionals. Nobody else thinks about the poor and marginalized section.

Making non-issue an issue
The situation is really bad with many religious organizations and politicians obsequiously surrendering to the ruling party whether it is the Barisan National at the centre or Pakatan Rakyat in states. In Selangor, two known religious organizations have sold their soul to the ruling government in exchange of a few million ringgit.

Raising sentimental issues have become a trend among Indian politicians and religious leaders. With election just round the corner many leaders in Putrajaya have started talking about opportunities for the marginalized Indians. They are not raising these issues because their hearts bleed for the Indian poor.The fact is they are doing so to cut a bargain with the ruling party and other political parties. Had they been their well-wisher they would have assisted the family members of those arrested under Emergency Ordinance (EO) and who are living in pitiable conditions in Simpang Rengam.

Community hijacked
The community has been hijacked by some opportunist politicians and religious leaders, who are just bothered about making money after coming to power or supporting certain political parties for their benefit. The middle-class has no time to ponder on these burning issues as most of their time is spend in improving their living standards and catching up with the elite.

The common and uneducated mass is left confused. With nobody to guide them they too become easy victims of political parties’ game, who promise them the moon during elections but deliver nothing after coming to power. When election comes, Indian voters prefer voting Barisan National as they feel that they would extricate them from poverty and illiteracy. Also, the voters are easily carried away by leaders’ skills to raise emotional issues.

The community has been severely hit by a leadership crisis. There is nobody who can dare air honest views. It is difficult to get hold of honest, sincere and well-educated Indian politician or religious leaders. Most of them have been co-opted by the government machinery.

The situation has come to such a passé that anybody with a few bucks want to be the leader of the community. Ironically, most of these messiah form their world and national view by religiously following third-rated Tamil dailies. Nothing seems to be changing.

In Malaysia, gays, lesbians, transgender and transvestites are all considered scourge of society. Authorities in Malaysia who claim to be moralist do take serious measures to quell “immoral acts”, because to them, Malaysia is a moral country. Is it?

Malaysia also does not condone “SEXS LUAR TABII (unnatural sex)”…even a blow job would be considered unnatural sex, don’t talk about SODOMY as that too would land you in jail for up to 20 years like how Anwar Ibrahim who is now fighing so hard to stay out of jail for having had unnatural sex with a 25-year-old gay name Saiful. In fact this is the second time Anwar Ibrahim has been involved in a sex trial. He lost his post as deputy prime minister in 1998 after being charged with sodomising his family’s former driver Azizan and abusing his power to cover up his actions, both of which he denied. He was freed in 2004 after six years in prison when a court overturned the sodomy conviction.

Wonder why so many people in Malaysia are homophobic? What do they have against a man loving another man or a woman loving another woman? Is it not that Love is something that every person in this world feels or is capable of feeling? So what if that love happens to be directed at someone of the same gender? I don’t understand what so big deal about this.

Please, please don’t get it wrong, I, myself am straight, but I support Gay Rights. Why? Because I was raised to be accepting of people who were different from me. Not only that, I also have friends who are homosexual and I find them to be very nice people and I find them very creative and talented, true! Look at Elton John, such a great singer songwriter he is. Remember David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Boy George, Ricky Wilson, George Michael, Ricky Martin and so many more, our own Sudirmam Hj Arshad – all very talented people! In fact, I do have a relative who is a doctor but gay (boy! my relatives are going to hate me for saying this here).

Speaking of which, I do understand that some people were raised to be intolerant of difference, but that explanation only goes so far.

Is this all merely an outward reaction to the insecurity (conscious OR subconscious) in one’s own sexuality? Or is there something else to it?

Now, I’m gonna be honest here because I’m sure someone from my church out there is gonna read this and start throwing bible passages at my face and condemn me for not being religious and for haven’t taken the time to read the bible.

Jokes aside, anyway below please find a video of “Ahmad” a Malaysian, living in Kuala Lumpur, who shares his struggles of being gay in Malaysia.